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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Washington at New York NL | 13:10 ET
Gonzalez (97.2 IP, 92 xFIP-) vs. Matz (89.0 IP, 80 xFIP-)
If it feels as though the Nationals and Mets have already played 1,000 games this season, then that’s strange, because they’ve actually played each other only 12 times so far — a figure which is almost 1,000 fewer than 1,000. If it really does feel that way to you, though, it’s possible that you experience time in a markedly different manner than other humans — such as one of Oliver Sacks’ patients, Hester, whom he discusses in an essay called Speed in a 2004 issue of the New Yorker.

From that piece:

Hester, too, seemed unaware of the degree to which her personal time diverged from clock time. I once asked my students to play ball with her, and they found it impossible to catch her lightning-quick throws. Hester returned the ball so rapidly that their hands, still outstretched from the throw, might be hit smartly by the returning ball. “You see how quick she is,” I said. “Don’t underestimate her — you’d better be ready.” But they could not be ready, since their best reaction times approached a seventh of a second, whereas Hester’s was scarcely more than a tenth of a second.

Fascinating or terrible? This is a question no one has to answer.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
San Diego at Los Angeles NL | 19:15 ET
Perdomo (59.0 IP, 97 xFIP-) vs. McCarthy (5.0 IP, 30 xFIP-)
Among the other things its designed to do, the algorithm which informs the NERD pitching scores is designed to look favorably upon those pitchers who have been maligned by fortune — or, at the very least, who appear to have been maligned by fortune. In practice, this is accomplished by fashioning a bonus for those pitchers who’ve underperformed their fielding-independent numbers. It’s calculated by subtracting a pitcher’s xFIP- from his ERA- and dividing the result by 20 (and then capping the final outcome at a maximum of 1.0 extra points lest things become absurd).

Luis Perdomo, for his part — and in addition to recording markedly above-average velocity and swinging-strike numbers — has produced a 97 xFIP- and a 201 ERA-, giving one the impression that he has very possibly been maligned by fortune. “You idiot,” a reader is inclined to say. “Have you considered that he’s maybe one of those pitchers who allows hard contact?” Perhaps he is. The data indicate, however, that he’s allowed an average exit velocity of 90.0 mph — or, almost the exact figure conceded by Hector Santiago, famous across all lands for outperforming his fielding-independent numbers.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Washington at New York NL | 19:10 ET
Strasburg (99.2 IP, 73 xFIP-) vs. Syndergaard (101.0 IP, 57 xFIP-)
The author is quoting himself and plagiarizing others when he states that, at its best, sport acts as a medium by which one can observe people working at the outer margins of human potential. Tonight’s encounter between Stephen Strasburg and Noah Syndergaard represents the apogee of this virtue in sport — provided that’s how one uses the word apogee. Stephen Strasburg throws hard and features excellent command. Noah Syndergaard throws hard and features excellent command. Observing the pair, the spectator has the opportunity to be transformed — or, at the very least, to be diverted temporarily from this cavalcade of horrors.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.

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The Fringe Five is a weekly regular-season exercise, introduced a few years ago by the present author, wherein that same author utilizes regressed stats, scouting reports, and also his own fallible intuition to identify and/or continue monitoring the most compelling fringe prospects in all of baseball.

Central to the exercise, of course, is a definition of the word fringe, a term which possesses different connotations for different sorts of readers. For the purposes of the column this year, a fringe prospect (and therefore one eligible for inclusion in the Five) is any rookie-eligible player at High-A or above who (a) received a future value grade of 45 or less from Dan Farnsworth during the course of his organizational lists and who (b) was omitted from the preseason prospect lists produced by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, and John Sickels, and also who (c) is currently absent from a major-league roster. Players appearing on an updated prospect list or, otherwise, selected in the first round of the current season’s amateur draft will also be excluded from eligibility.

In the final analysis, the basic idea is this: to recognize those prospects who are perhaps receiving less notoriety than their talents or performance might otherwise warrant.

Greg Allen, OF, Cleveland (Profile)
This represents Allen’s sixth appearance among the Five proper this year — the top mark among prospects who don’t also possess the exact same DNA, arranged in precisely the same manner, as Sherman Johnson. Allen has been both (a) incredible overall and (b) even more incredible recently. Regard, by way of illustration, the following table, which contains certain of Allen’s most relevant numbers relative to the 200 other qualified position players across all of High-A.

Naturally, this isn’t a perfect method: the run enivornments of the Carolina League (to which Allen belongs) differ from those of the California and Florida State Leagues, the former possessing greater offensive production; the latter, less. Still, one finds that the Cleveland outfielder possesses elite numbers by several different measures.

The effect is heightened when one compares Allen’s numbers since May 27th (the date of his first appearance among the Five) against all the same qualified batters — a sample of 152 plate appearances.

If one interested in identifying a plus hit tool merely by numbers alone, Allen is an ideal case study. He’s recorded one of the top three walk rates at High-A while also recording one of the top three (which is to say, lowest) strikeout rates — while also converting batted balls into hits at a rate higher than almost everyone else.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Pittsburgh at St. Louis | 13:45 ET
Glasnow (MLB debut) vs. Wainwright (103.1 IP, 101 xFIP-)
This afternoon and evening features numerous pitching appearances of note: Lucas Giolito‘s second career start, Hyun-Jin Ryu’s first major-league appearance since 2014, and the league’s hardest-throwing left-handed starters in Kansas City. Still, it’s the debut of Pittsburgh’s Tyler Glasnow, a top-10 prospect by most accounts, which likely merits the greatest attention. As a result, the author has assessed a score of 16 to Glasnow, so as to render the Pirates-Cardinals game today’s most highly rated. This is a rhetorical act known not as deus ex machina, but rather stultus ex machina — which is to say, “idiot from the machine.”

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: St. Louis Radio.

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Episode 665
Dave Cameron is the managing editor of FanGraphs. During this edition of FanGraphs Audio he discusses how the Padres’ flurry of international signings might indicate an attempt by the organization to solve the wrong kind of problem; addresses the likelihood of the Yankees’ trading any of their impressive bullpen triumvirate; and explains the concept of diminishing returns to the host as if the latter were a small child.

This episode of the program either is or isn’t sponsored by SeatGeek, which site removes both the work and also the hassle from the process of shopping for tickets.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 46 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Baltimore at Los Angeles NL | 15:10 ET
Gausman (81.2 IP, 89 xFIP-) vs. Norris (76.1 IP, 97 xFIP-)
If one takes for granted that ballplayers enjoy winning more than losing and prefer to qualify for the postseason rather than not to qualify for it, then one might also reasonably state that the recent trade between Los Angeles and Atlanta has improved right-hander Bud Norris’s professional life. On the day of that particular transaction (June 30th), Los Angeles possessed a 79.3% probability of qualifying for the postseason in some capacity; Atlanta, much closer to 0.0%. That represents an improvement of roughly 80 percentage points. How does this compare to other players? It seems the only other recent trade of note involved Fernando Rodney. He moved, on that same day, from San Diego (0.0%) to Miami (27.7%). Still an improvement, but roughly 50 points less of an improvement than the one experienced by Norris.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles NL Television.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Seattle at Houston | 20:10 ET
Walker (82.0 IP, 91 xFIP-) vs. Keuchel (107.0 IP, 84 xFIP-)
On Opening Day, Houston possessed a 68% probability of qualifying for the postseason in some form. Following a poor start, that figure had dropped to 18% by May 23rd. Now, after a much less poor interval, the Astros’ playoff odds are above 50% again. Is this like or not like Sisyphus rolling a boulder up a hill for all eternity?

The author will take his answer off the air.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston or Seattle Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Detroit at Cleveland | 19:10 ET
Norris (11.0 IP, 92 xFIP-) vs. Salazar (93.1 IP, 87 xFIP-)
The deeply flawed game NERD scores created by the author are, by definition, flawed deeply. That said, they do include at least one element that isn’t entirely senseless — namely that, as the season wears on, they’re influenced more significantly by the team scores and less by the starting-pitcher scores. And the team scores themselves are influenced more significantly by postseason odds and less by performance-related factors. This is relevant today because (a) Cleveland currently possesses the league’s highest team score (tied with Baltimore) and (b) just over 50% of the season’s games have been played. It’s likely, in other words, that their games will be well-acquitted here for the time being. Which appears to have some sense to it: they’re a strong club in the thick of a division race. In conclusion, this has been a paragraph of no importance.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

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